Single-Use Cameras, also known as Film with Lens Units, One-Time-Use Cameras or Recyclable Cameras, have provided the camera user with a miniaturized, inexpensive, rugged and easy to operate alternative to traditional camera designs. As a result, these Single-Use Cameras are often carried by their owners on a regular basis and employed under conditions where owners would not normally take expensive cameras. These modern Single-Use Cameras are now available with many amenities designed to make picture taking more enjoyable and easier under a variety of environmental or lighting conditions. For example, these cameras are now available with flash units designed to widen the range of suitable lighting conditions. Other units are available in water resistant housings and with modified film-formats, for example, panoramic formats, all designed to encourage carrying the camera to moist, less accessible or more dangerous locations that are visited by the user either during normal life activities or during trips, vacations, and the like. Manufacturers have even encouraged the storage of such cameras in auto glove compartments so that they can be available to record damage from auto accidents. Representative examples of Single-Use Cameras are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,896,178; 4,954,858; 5,086,311; 5,170,199; 5,235,364; 5,315,332; 5,337,099; 5,353,076 and 5,361,111.
Problem to be Solved by the Invention
While these cameras are certainly excellent for their intended use, i.e recording scenes, the additional features, such as the incorporated power sources and circuitry associated with the incorporated flash units, represent an as yet untapped opportunity to provide the consumer with additional values.